| NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 8, 2000 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 16, 2004 |
| Award Number: | 0002654 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Jane V. Dionne
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2000 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2003 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $442,644.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $327,129.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
506 S WRIGHT ST URBANA IL US 61801-3620 (217)333-2187 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
506 S WRIGHT ST URBANA IL US 61801-3620 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
ARC Rsch Support & Logistics, ANS-Arctic Natural Sciences |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
The twenty-four or so cod species of the Arctic and northern cool-temperate oceans belonging to the family Gadidae include many of the most commercially important cod fishes. Five of these species are known to have an antifreeze glycoprotein (AFGP) that is important for their survival in their various cold-water habitats. Most of the cod AFGP studies were conducted during 1975-1985, and provided basic information on the protein structure and seasonal changes in AFGP levels in some of the five known AFGP-bearing cods. None of the other cods that may encounter freezing conditions have been examined for possible presence of an antifreeze function, and no information at all on the cod AFGP function at the molecular level was available until 1997 when the first AFGP gene sequence and structure from the Arctic cod Boreogadus saida were reported with a high AFGP coding capacity in this most-northerly species. Thus the AFGP systems of the different cod species are far from being thoroughly understood. This project proposes to conduct comprehensive characterizations and analyses of the AFGP system of the different gadids using contemporary techniques. The overall goal is to assess their respective freeze-avoidance capacities at both the protein (AFGP protein structures and production) and molecular (AFGP genes and gene families and their transcription) levels, and how these relate to the differential physiological demands imposed by their diverse habitats which span a range of latitudes and environmental severity. The AFGP systems of the cods will be contrasted among the cod species, and with the constitutive high capacities in their south-polar counterparts, the Antarctic notothenioids, which are unrelated perciform fishes that make a near-identical AFGP to survive in the world's most thermally stable and coldest marine waters at the opposite pole. A key question in the field of antifreeze research is where these novel antifreeze proteins came from. The PIs have previously determined the evolutionary origin and molecular mechanism that produced the Antarctic notothenioid AFGP gene which played a crucial role in the survival and organismal success of these fishes in the frigid Antarctic waters. Through molecular analyses, the second major goal of the project is to decipher the origin and evolutionary history of the cod AFGP gene, that had led to the remarkable 'bipolar' evolutionary convergence of similar AFGPs in two unrelated fish groups.
Ten different marine gadid species, one of which includes two genetically distinct populations, will be examined. Specific areas of studies include: (1) comparative analyses of blood AFGP levels, protein structure and heterogeneity between and within cod species from different latitudes and habitats to determine the influence of environmental severity on antifreeze production; (2) determination of the circannual AFGP production cycles (AFGP protein levels and transcription of mRNA) of three high-latitude cods and their relationship to the temporal variations in environmental conditions specific to each of their habitats; (3) determination of the encoded capacity for AFGP production in different cods by analyzing the complexity of their AFGP gene sequences, structures, the organization of these genes in the genome, and the size of the gene family; (4) characterization of the distribution of AFGP expression in different tissues and non-vascular fluid compartments to determine all possible lines of defense against freezing in the cods; (5) determination whether hitherto unexamined gadids (6 different northerly distributed species) have an antifreeze protein through detection for both blood antifreeze activity and presence of AFGP-like sequences in their genome; and (6) deciphering the origin and the evolutionary process of cod AFGP gene.
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